Obama tries to reassure Netanyahu about Iran

Sep. 30, 2013
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FILE - In this Monday, March 5, 2012 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens as President Barack Obama speaks during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. / Pablo Martinez Monsivais AP

The effort to assuage Netanyahu's concerns comes in the midst of signs that there could be a thawing in the U.S.-Iranian relationship with the elevation a new Iranian president, who has taken a softer tone with the United States in his first weeks in power.

"We take no options off the table, including military options," Obama told reporters after meeting with Netanyahu. "We have to test diplomacy. We have to see if in fact they are serious about their willingness to abide by international norms and international law and international requirements and resolutions."

The White House visit by Netanyahu, who will deliver an address before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday in which he said he will reiterate his concerns about Iran's nuclear program, comes three days after Obama and Iran's new president, Hasan Rouhani, spoke by phone.

The Obama-Rouhani call marked the closest interaction between high-level U.S. and Iranian leaders since the Carter administration. The two countries broke off diplomatic relations after militants in Tehran stormed the U.S. Embassy in 1979 and held 52 hostages for 444 days.

But Netanyahu spoke plainly about his skepticism over Rouhani's diplomatic efforts.

"We have a saying in Hebrew, we call it mivchan hatotza'a -- you would say it in English, What's the bottom line?" said Netanyahu, who also met with Vice President Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday. "And the bottom line, again, is that Iran fully dismantles its military nuclear program."

Obama and Rouhani also traded conciliatory messages in their own addresses before the General Assembly last week. Rouhani proclaimed Iran had no interest in developing nuclear weapons and was interested in "constructive engagement" with the United States. Obama said in his address "the diplomatic path must be tested" with Iran.

Even before last week's gestures, Obama and Rouhani, who took office in August, had exchanged letters, and the White House was cautiously optimistic that Rouhani - a relative moderate in Iran's political scene - was ready to have serious talks with the United States and its allies about Iran's nuclear program because years of sanctions have worn down Iran.

Obama was even willing to have a brief meeting with Rouhani on the margins of the UNGA last week, but the Iranians turned down the offer because of concerns that Iran's powerful clerical hierarchy was not ready for such an informal exchange.

Netanyahu says the Iranians are far from genuine about their willingness to engage in non-proliferation talks and will use the space created by the thawing to create a nuclear bomb. He urged Obama not to ease up on sanctions against Iran.

Obama underscored that the United States will closely consult with Israel about future contacts with Iran. "We enter into these negotiations very clear-eyed," Obama said.

Before leaving for the USA, Netanyahu said in Israel that he would be blunt about his concerns about Iran. "I will tell the truth in the face of the sweet talk and the onslaught of smiles."

But Biden, in a speech at the Jewish advocacy group J Street Monday afternoon, argued that it was mounting sanctions by the Obama administration in recent years that have pushed Iran to seek a diplomatic solution over its nuclear program.

"These sanctions have had a profound impact on Iran's economy and they have crystallized for the Iranian people as well as the leadership that they have to make a very basic decision: Do they want to continue in deepening isolation...or do they want the negotiate their way back into the global economy and the global community," Biden said.

Last year at the United Nations, Netanyahu held up a drawing of a cartoon bomb to make his point that Iran was at the cusp of developing a nuclear weapon. On Tuesday, Netanyahu is likely to again call for the international community to hold a hard line against Iran's nuclear program backed by the credible threat of force.

"Iran is committed to Israel's destruction," Netanyahu said. "So for Israel, the ultimate test of a future agreement with Iran is whether or not Iran dismantles its military nuclear program."

Obama and Netanyahu also discussed the status of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which resumed in July, as well as the civil war in Syria and unrest in Egypt after this summer's ouster of a government led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The president also applauded Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for returning to the negotiating table.